Starbucks Birthday Cake Frappuccino, reviewed

Starbucks is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the national launch of their iconic Frappuccinos this week with a limited edition Birthday Cake Frappuccino, which is a perfect idea to mark the occasion. It’s one of a series of limited edition (sometimes one day or one weekend only) drinks that Starbucks has been playing around with the past couple of months. The frappuccino is made with a vanilla bean base and flavored with hazelnut syrup. There is no coffee in it, but you could have coffee added to it, if you like a little coffee with your cake. The drink is topped with a fluffy cloud of pink raspberry whipped cream.

Since the weather here in LA has been hot this week, it gave me the perfect opportunity to give one of these drinks a try. Though I usually prefer my frappuccinos with coffee, I stuck with the coffee-free version this time around. The drink does not taste like cake to me, however it is quite tasty. The flavors of vanilla bean and hazelnut balance each other well and the overall drink is quite delicious. The raspberry whipped cream might have been my favorite part, as it had a distinct berry flavor and really worked with the other ingredients. I preferred to have the whipped cream on its own, but the whole thing starts to take on a berry shortcake feeling if you stir it in with your straw.

The flavor will only be available through the end of the weekend, so you might want to plan to drop in and give it a try sooner than later if this flavor combination appeals to you!